Thousands still watch TV in black and white

More than 7,000 people still watch TV in black and white more than half a century after colour broadcasts began.

London has the most TV licences for black and white sets at 1,768, followed by 431 in the West Midlands and 390 in Greater Manchester with 390.

A total of 7,161 UK households have failed to start watching in colour despite transmissions starting in 1967.

BBC2 was the first channel to regularly broadcast in colour from July that year with the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

The number of black and white licences has almost halved in the past five years and is down from 212,000 in 2000.

The figures were released by TV Licensing in what appears to be a reminder that anyone watching television must by law have a TV licence.

Spokesman Jason Hill said: “Whether you watch EastEnders, Strictly or Question Time in black and white on a 50-year-old TV set, or in colour on a tablet, you need to be covered by a TV licence to watch or record programmes as they are broadcast.

“You also need to be covered by a TV licence to download or watch BBC programmes on iPlayer, on any device.”